by Das Brain
Exactly one month and two days ago I was laid off, and although it was inevitable, and probably a blessing in disguise as many of my friends and family have told me, it still feels weird. Even though unemployment insurance and my savings will more than adequately keep me afloat for over 10 months or so, I still have this feeling as if I am non-productive and there is a big hit to my self esteem.
When I explore my emotions I can somewhat pinpoint that the hit to my self esteem has to do with the fact that I like many people identify myself with my job or job title. This is probably an association that I will have to let go, in order to through this transitional period in my life. When the job and job title is gone I guess it feels as though I have lost a piece of myself. Not good. As a person who have never been laid off before this is all a new experience.
I have been working very hard on my own business, promoting one of my video websites heavily and things seem to be working. Google adsense revenue is starting to come in from the video website when there was none before and it is quite a regular stream. One thing I’ll say about being jobless is that it really gets you off your ass to find any means possible to make a few dollars here and there. I’ve also been filming my cats playing and submitting the video to certain video websites to try to make a few bucks here and there if the videos get enough viewership.
Managing the waves of emotions like money worry, self worth and fear is a full time task at this point and the reason I imagine is because the lay off experience is all still fresh. I can already feel that things will eventually get better slowly as I continue to keep myself busy by stock and option trading, looking for a new job and continually work on my web business. I have resolve to try my best to not attach myself to my previous job, in the end I am not my job. I think newly retired people go through the same type of issues and emotions.
So if you are reading this, and you are in a similar situation as I am, I encourage you to take this downtime to explore who you are without your job or career, but at the same time you must keep pressing on. Don’t let this downtime be the destroyer of you.
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